Nursing home residents more likely to die from C. diff infections, research suggests

Nursing home residents more likely to die from C. diff infections, research suggests

Living at a nursing home may be a predictor of whether a hospital patient dies from Clostridium difficile, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Winthrop University Hospital in New York looked at 254 patients with C. difficile infection with a goal of creating an "on admission" prediction model. They found that nursing home residents were more likely to die from complications related to the disease when compared to those who had community-acquired C.diff.

"Nursing home residents are particularly susceptible to infection and adverse health outcomes because they are physiologically old and often have co-morbid underlying diseases," said Rani Modayil, M.D., who presented the findings at the American College of Gastroenterology's 76th Annual Scientific meeting.

"However, after controlling for the risk attributable to co-morbidity, nursing home residence still remains a strong predictor of mortality. In fact, the study showed the risk for CDI-related death could almost triple for an admission from an institution compared to one from the community," said Modayil.